In April, Southborough’s Building Commissioner was “separated from service” and an interim acting commissioner appointed. Four months later, the Select Board is still not recruiting a long term replacement. Instead, the Town is reviewing how the department should be structured or regionalized going forward.
This isn’t the first time the board considered regionalizing the position. But it appears to be the first time (at least in decades) that they chose to take a serious look into the possibility.
In a June 12th memo to the Select Board, Town Administrator Mark Purple described the status of the Building Dept:
It has been a tumultuous two years with the Building Department, as we have gone through two Commissioners during that time. I am personally disappointed that we could not make this work, as a lot of effort went into developing the relationship; ultimately, the fit was not there. Fortunately we have had Gene Novak step up (again) to fill the role of Interim Commissioner, who along with two Alternate Building Inspectors are keeping the department moving forward. We have been meeting with Gene to get his thoughts on how to staff the department more sustainably in FY26. The department staff has had some challenges as well, but we are in good shape now. Having Lara Davis [our Business Administrator to the ZBA] move to full time hours as of 7/1/25 is a huge asset. She continues to get accolades from Town Counsel on her work ethic
Novak, a former Southborough part-time Building Inspector was also the Acting/Interim Building Commissioner who filled the gap before Lund was hired. And in last week’s meeting, Select Board Member Marguerite Landry lauded the dept’s additional Business Admin Kelly O’Brien as the “admin from Heaven”.
Purple’s overview of the situation was part of a memo related to his proposed performance goals for this year. At the July 1st meeting, the board agreed to include “Stabilize Building Department staffing and look at alternate models” as one of his goals.
The TA’s goal supports one of the board’s own goals established at their June 17th meeting:
Determine appropriate staffing structure for Building Dep’t and currently vacant Building Commissioner position (is regionalization an option?)
In a discussion of Purple’s goals at their July 1st meeting, Landry said she was “worried” about the department, which she described as “in a very fragile state”. She acknowledged that the Board was also taking a look at the entire “overarching” Town structure of departments. But she emphasized the need to begin by focusing on the Building Department.
Purple responded that he was “exploring options” and hoped to have some to discuss with the board in the “next month or so”.
Last week, Landry gave an update on the department. In it she said she’d been talking with people, and both Purple and Asst. Town Administrator Vanessa Hale had been in conversations with other town. She highlighted a shortage of talent as a factor in the current thinking:
the bottom line is that in the state of Massachusetts there’s so many towns and there’s about 40 less building commissioners. . . either you’re going to poach somebody or patch it together. There needs to be a a serious look taken at what the building department can do.
Upon questioning, Landry confirmed that her understanding is there are 30-40 vacancies for town Building Commissioners in the state. She followed:
why would somebody be a building commissioner when they could use the same skill set to make a lot of money building? . .
So I guess so part of the thing’s: needing to look at the salaries; needing to talk some more with the people who are in the building department now; needing to talk to other towns in the region to see if there’s any gaps they have we can fill, or gaps we have that they can fill. So, it’s still ongoing discussion.
Landry noted that in discussions, Novak and Davis recommended new software be implemented to improve the department’s workflow. The board will look at that as part of another goal to identify and implement “AI and automated solutions for government processes and functions”.
The board didn’t specifically discuss overlaps between the department’s functions and other Southborough departments in the July meetings. But minutes from the goal setting discussion also mention looking into any “synergies” with the Fire Chief. One of his department’s responsibilities is fire safety inspections. They are also the authority for many permits, including some related to buildings. (You can find the list here.)
I reached out to ask Landry about when the board made the decision to hold off on replacing Lund. She directed my questions to Town Administrator Mark Purple. I wondered if it was part of the Closed Executive Session on April 11th about Lund’s separation. He couldn’t “recall a specific discussion about not immediately advertising the Commissioner position.”
Lund’s departure was obliquely referenced in the following week’s meeting when Chair Kathy Cook said the position had been vacated. At that time, when they approved appointing Novak as Interim Building Commissioner, they didn’t discuss the status or strategy for recruiting (or not recruiting) a replacement.
The June 17th goal setting meeting, two months after Lund’s separation, appears to be the first time I could find that the board openly discussed the possibility that they wouldn’t advertise the job. (And that unrecorded meeting wasn’t intended for public participation.1)
Building Commissioner Job and History
The job of Building Commissioner in Southborough is about more than inspecting buildings. The employee also serves as the Town’s Zoning Enforcement Officer.
The potential for regionalizing the job is one that the Town considered in 2009 when lead Building Inspector Peter Johnson retired after 12 years.
The possibility was floated by the Town of Ashland (back when Southborough’s Town Administrator was their Asst. Town Administrator). At that time, the Select Board decided to continue staffing a dedicated inspector/commissioner for Southborough.
The next three hires didn’t last nearly as long as Johnson had, but they had served in the role for 4-5 years each before retiring/resigning. That changed in recent years.
Casey Burlingam was hired in April 2023 and resigned in March 2024. Chris Lund was hired to start on July 1st of 2024. His job ended just over ten months later.
